Waltham High boys hockey eager to reverse tournament course

Wednesday

Feb 28, 2018 at 7:02 PMFeb 28, 2018 at 7:02 PM

Scott Souza ssouza@wickedlocal.com

WALTHAM – Three weeks ago the Waltham High boys hockey team became the first team in the state to beat or tie Central Catholic this season when the Hawks ended CC’s perfect run with an exhilarating, 1-0 triumph at Veterans Rink.

Now the Hawks are looking to do something no Waltham team has done in five years when they begin state tournament play against Medford on Saturday.

That was the last time Waltham won a postseason game. But with a senior crew, the benchmark upset of CC, and a 14-5-2 record on the year, the hope is this team will have the experience, talent and poise to reverse that trend when the Hawks face Medford in the Division 1 tournament opener Saturday night at 7:40 at Chelmsford Forum.

“It’s a special team,” senior Shawn Wise said following Tuesday’s practice at Veterans Rink. “We’ve all been playing together since we started playing hockey. We’ve all been in and out of circles with each other. It’s something special for all the boys. Beating Central at home, capping off the home season undefeated, puts us in a good position to go into the tournament and work hard.”

The victory against the Raiders gave the Hawks the confidence that they could skate with anyone in the state with a top effort in the tournament. But there have been missteps as well down the stretch – including losses to Westford and the regular-season ending loss to Wellesley after Waltham crushed Newton North, 8-1, the game prior – that warn of the consequences of anything less than a full and focused effort.

“You have to play well to advance no matter who you are playing,” Waltham coach John Maguire said. “The schedule we played, starting with preseason, then certainly marquee win against Central Catholic, I think they’ve seen what we can do on the upside. They’ve also seen some of the games that we probably shouldn’t have lost if you don’t show up prepared.

“It’s exciting. It’s a good group to work with. For the most part they’ve been coachable and a good leadership group.”

Most of the senior-laden squad was on the ice during the close tournament losses of the past two years.

“At the beginning of the year we just started to work hard and move the puck well,” senior Declan Reynolds said. “We have great guys on the team, a great goalie, and we’ve worked hard together every day. The hot start, and definitely Central Catholic, that was huge.

“We know what we can do. If we come into the tournament the way we came into Central, we’ll be able to beat any team.”

Waltham’s strength begins in the back with standout netminder Kyle Penton. Penton was named a Merrimack Valley Conference/Dual County League All-Conference player this winter, along with veteran defenseman Gerard Jelloe.

“He’s been solid from day one, obviously, but even more so with (senior defenseman) Shane (Devlin) out in terms of the amount of minutes he’s logged,” Maguire said of Jelloe. “He’s played close to 30 minutes a game and has done all the special teams stuff. He’s been fantastic.”

Maguire said there is hope that Devlin, who has been out since breaking his wrist midseason, could be cleared to play on Saturday.

“I wish we were playing sooner,” Maguire said, “but that is one possible advantage of the layoff.”

The coach said the team will also take the extra time to work on the power play, which has been spotty this season compared to the strength of Waltham’s penalty kill.

Andrew Miller and Connor Blanchard were both named MVC/DCL All-Stars up front with JT Logue, Brian Pescatore, Reynolds and Wise among the other key offensive contributors.

It was Pescatore who flipped the puck to Blanchard at mid-ice before he charged in for the only goal of the CC upset.

“During that game we just wanted to play our game,” Pescatore said. “That was one of the better games we’ve played the entire year because we were focused on playing well as a team. After that, we wanted to focus on keep doing what we’d been doing.

“That worked to some extent – we lost a few games. But if we do that during the tourney we’ll be set (for a run to) the state finals.”

A victory on Saturday would set the Hawks up against Arlington, Belmont or Melrose at Tsongas Arena in Lowell next Wednesday.

“If we’re going to advance,” Maguire said, “we have to play well in goal, which has been a strength. We have to play well in the back, which has been another strength. Then finish when we have opportunities. A couple of games that we’ve lost the past few years it was that one mistake, or that we didn’t finish that one time.

“Hopefully, they’ve had that experience. Most of them have. Now, hopefully, they know what it takes to get it done and win some games.”

That will likely mean doing what it takes to make the one play the former Greater Boston League rival does not on Saturday.

“It’s going to be a dirty goal,” Pescatore said. “It’s not supposed to be pretty. Just as long as you get the puck in front of the net. If it goes in, it goes in. But you’ve got to be scrappy and it will happen.”